Habitual.....

You know, I hear a lot about habitual sin. Sin that is besetting, sin that just doesn't seem to let go, that slowly eats you from the inside out like a parasite.

And that's not exactly what I want to talk about here.

I was just listening to an old podcast by Mark Driscoll (I hope someday to catch up to the new ones...), and he said something interesting - just a passing comment on how leadership should act: He said of the leadership of his church "If you want to see flaws, they're there. But there is a love of God, and there is an ongoing and habitual repentance of sin."

Which brings me to my point: Maybe as Christians, we think about sin, habitual or otherwise, that we forget to repent of the sins of our life. Through a side note on a sermon on Church leadership (1 Cor. 4:14-21), Driscoll reminded me that part of being a Christian is constantly recurring confession and repentance.

So here I am reminding whoever is reading this thing: It's good to confess and repent. Keep a short account with God. Once you start to do it, it gets easier to remember to do.

Blessings on whoever reads this. Thanks...

Enjoy the Superbowl.

And also remember Who is the source of all enjoyment.

Goodnight.

Well, here's a hard prayer to live up to... But good.

from The Valley of Vision

Evening Renewal
My Father, if Thy mercy had bounds, where would be my refuge from just wrath? But thy love in Christ is without measure. Thus, I present myself to Thee with sins of comission and omission, against Thee, my Father, against Thee, adorable redeemer, against Thee and Thy strivings, O Holy Spirit, against the dictates of my conscience, against the precepts of Thy Word, against my neighbours and myself. Enter not into judgment with me, for I plead no righteousness of my own, and have no cloak for iniquity. Pardon my day dark with evil. This night I renew my penitence. Every morning I vow to love Thee more fervently, to serve Thee more sincerely, to be more devoted in my life, to be wholly Thine; Yet I soon stumble, backslide, and have to confess my weakness, misery and sin. But I bless Thee that the finished work of Jesus needs no addition from my doings, that His oblation is sufficient satisfaction for my sins.

If future days be mine, help me to amend my life, to hate and abhor evil, to flee the sins I confess. Make me more resolute, more watchful, more prayerful. Let no evil fruit spring from evil seeds my hands have sown; Let no neighbour be hardened in vanity and folly by my want of circumspection. If this day I have been ashamed of Christ and His Word, or have shown unkindness, malice, envy, lack of love, unadvised speech, hasty temper, let it be no stumbling block to others, or dishonour to Thy name. O help me to set an upright
example that will ever rebuke vice, allure to goodness, and evidence that lovely are the ways of Christ.